Dec 3, 2017 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – A woman who told investigators her boyfriend beat her and then burned down their Franklin Township mobile home last month refused to testify at his preliminary hearing Thursday.

Billie Jo Hodgson was sworn in to testify against Brett Michael Dulaney, but her public defender told the court she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right out of concerns of self-incrimination.

“She doesn’t wish to testify,” Kimberly Furmanek told District Judge Glenn Bates at the beginning of the hearing.

State police fire investigators never have publicly said whether Hodgson is a suspect in setting the Nov. 2 fire that destroyed the home at 125 Valley Farm Drive, and she is not currently facing any charges in the case.

Dulaney, 35, who was arrested that day and charged with arson, risking a catastrophe, strangulation, simple assault and harassment, told police Hodgson set the fire while he was asleep.

“I don’t know if there is even a suggestion that she’s committed a crime or is facing charges,” Bates said.

Furmanek said after the hearing state police “informed us that she could possibly, potentially, be a suspect” in the arson.

“I guess it’s unusual,” Furmanek said of the public defender’s office taking on a case in which someone has not been charged. “With the severity of the charges in the case, we thought it would be appropriate to be present (at the hearing).”

Even without Hodgson’s testimony, Bates ordered Dulaney to stand trial on all charges. The judge heard testimony from two state police investigators and audio of Hodgson’s 911 call, along with recordings taken at the scene and during interviews at the police barracks.

In her 911 call, Hodgson told dispatchers Dulaney “beat the crap out of me” and threatened to kill her. She also could be heard telling dispatchers he was “trying to burn the house down” by lighting the curtains on fire with a lit piece of cardboard. Hodgson sobbed and rocked back and forth while the audio was played.

Pull Quote

“She left me in there to cook like a (expletive) turkey,” Brett Michael Dulaney told state police when they interviewed him hours after the Nov. 2 mobile home fire.

Trooper Joseph Popielarcheck, who serves as a deputy fire marshal, testified at the hearing that the fire was set with a petroleum-based product in a bedroom on the eastern side of the home. He said firefighters pulled two propane tanks from the bedroom, and investigators also found a lawnmower inside. He testified Dulaney was intoxicated at the scene and smelled like gasoline.

Dulaney could be heard in a recording at the scene claiming another man set the fire. However, when he was interviewed at the state police barracks, he claimed Hodgson set the fire while he was asleep and that he escaped after nearly being overcome by smoke.

“She left me in there to cook like a (expletive) turkey,” Dulaney said during the police interview hours after the fire.

Dulaney also told police the couple had the “fight of the century” the night before after they smoked crack for four straight days. He said he had 12 different drugs in him when the fire occurred.

“I’ve taken enough drugs to kill a (expletive) elephant,” Dulaney told police in the interview.

Dulaney, police said, could not explain to investigators why he smelled like gasoline.

Greene County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Lock asked during the hearing for the strangulation charge to be increased from a misdemeanor to a felony. He declined to comment on whether Hodgson could eventually face charges.

Dulaney’s attorney, Adam Joseph Belletti, asked Bates for a reduction in the $50,000 bond so that Dulaney could enter a drug-rehabilitation program.

Bates denied the request, suggesting that the issue be discussed during Dulaney’s formal arraignment in Greene County Court on Dec. 18.

As the hearing concluded, Hodgson and Dulaney could be seen making eye contact and exchanging pleasantries.